Monsters & Critics: Summit held for internet code of conduct

Internet technology giants Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and Vodafone are in talks with the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Business for Social Responsibility. The talks have a single aim, to produce a code of conduct by the end of the year, which will protect free speech and privacy of all internet users.

The talks if successful will hold companies accountable if their software is used to dampen or censor free speech or human rights. Technology offers a wide range of information online. This same technology is used by various governments, such as China, to limit the amount of information available to the public. Censorship is a major issue, but there is also the case of technology used to seek out those who oppose governments and write about their ideas and thoughts. Allowing them to be charged for state crimes, such was the case Shi Tao, who was sentenced to ten years jail time for talking about China’s government and other ‘state secrets’ to a New York based news site.

Yahoo, one of the companies involved in the summit, was under fire by several rights groups for its part in helping China trace emails sent by Tao, which ultimately led to his arrest. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is one such right group, and in a statement gave some disturbing stats, “Governments around the world are jailing Internet journalists at a growing pace, with 49 bloggers, online editors, and Web-based reporters behind bars at the end of 2006,” said Joel Simon CPJ Executive Director to Reuters.

Google is also in the center of censorship, by actively filtering search results to its China portal, and removing offensive material from China’s Google news. Microsoft censors blogs on its MSN portal in China and filters certain keywords, such as ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights.’ All three companies were chastised in Congress, after being called before the committees, by representative Tom Lantos (D) CA. Lantos went so far as to call their actions of compromise to the Chinese government ‘abhorrent.’

Whether these talks will help remains to be seen. A bill in the United States Congress sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith, (R) NJ, would penalize U.S. based companies if they turn over personal and private information to foreign governments, or block access to U.S. government websites. The trend is there, and the companies who can best help are giving the effort. Add to this the Wikileaks website, where people, and submit information on oppression, and government corruption, and the growing demand for privacy and freedoms online, this is bound to be a hot topic in the coming months.